September 2007 Meeting &

Plant of the Month Competition

South African Succulents

Barry Millar made his third visit to us and this time he was speaking on South Africa where he went two years ago. His own collection are mainly Aloe's and these are mostly from South Africa. He also has a collection of Stapelia group.

He told us that in habitat the aloe's hybridize and some of these are not in cultivation. Aloe flowers are shades of red, pink or yellow. He then showed us the party feeding hyena's. In South Africa there are 60 million people and most of them live in the rural parts. The men do the planting and the women do the harvesting and carry the water. Lots of Aloe's are used for medicine and he saw lots of older people being led by four year olds and also lots of people suffering with leprosy.

Next he showed us a photo of a granite obelisk, 23 meters high and weighing 135 tons. This being the largest known in the world and it is 2000 years old. It is also said that the Ark of the Covenant is in Saint Georges Church, South Africa. There were lots of pictures of churches, birds, wild flowers and it was a very interesting talk which every one enjoyed